Re: Relative Name Angst

My husband's grandma was born Elizabeth. She was the last child and came way after the most of them. (She had nieces/nephews older than her.) She now goes by Alice (and got it legally changed) because everyone said that they had enough children Alice (at last).

I also had a professor who's name was originally Melanie and her middle Frances. Her whole family called her Frances and she changed it legally when she got married.

Re: Relative Name Angst

My mom HATES her name. It is RhondaColleen. She has always wanted to change it to my grandmother's second choice for her.
My uncle also legally changed his name from Richard to Rick. Not much difference.
My sister goes by her initals professionally. LA. Not because she dislikes her name, she just thinks it's too common.
My grandfather's first name was Johnny. He went by his middle nn of Eddie.

My dad was christened RichardJohn, but has gone by John since childhood. Why? Who knows. We tried asking his parents many times, but they always gave conflicting answers! The most likely response is that his cousin was Robert (same surname) and there was confusion with them both being R. Smith (*not actual surname*). Seems odd to me, but, nevertheless, my dad is John!

Apart from that, none of my relatives go by anything apart from their actual first names. Some names are shortened (e.g. Benjamin is called Ben and Debra is called Deb), but that's all.

My Gran wanted to call my mum SaraAlice until my uncle pointed out that her initials would be SAM and as her wanted a little brother he would call her Sam, so Gean officially called her AliceSara. Everyone calls her Sara though.